Sukhumvit is Bangkok's entertainment area and got its name from Sukhumvit Road that cuts through it which in turn was named in memory of Phra Bisal Sukhumvit who served as Thailand's chief of the Department of Highways who probably oversaw the the cobstruction of the road which actually strenches 488 kilometers from Bangkok to the Thai-Cambodian border.
But more than the "naughty" entertainment and the swanky malls, Sukhumvit also hosts a number of iconic homegrown restaurants that are popular with the local population and largely undiscovered by tourists.
And perhaps an introduction to Sukhumvit's food culture is the spread that Bon and Dinah ordered for us at the Apoteka Cocktail Bar in Sukhumvit's Soi 11, western but cooked in Sukhumvit, as I and Cathy celebrated the conclusion of the GRAISEA 2 Inception Workshop with Lao Beer.
I opted to move to Sukhumvit for the weekend rather than fly home to Manila on Saturday then back to Bangkok on Monday, and checked in at the Red Planet Hotel right across the Asoke BTS Station.
My purpose is to discover the "must-try authentic local food in Bangkok you'll never find out if you don't have Thai friends", alone and without my Thai friends, through the "Elevated Train in Commemoration of HM the King's 6th Cycle Birthday First Line" otherwise known as the Sukhumvit (Green) Line.
First stop was the Ari BTS Station which is 290 meters away from Thani Khao Mudaeng for what is allegedly the best Moo Grob (crispy pork belly) in Bangkok which did not disappoint although I have to order another plate of the crispy but tender meat since the first one was overwhelmed by the sweet sauce and the slice of Chinese sausage that came with it and at 120 baht, it was almost spectacular.
An Ondoy-like downpour threathened to abort my food trip so I bought a ticket to the Mo Chit BTS Station where I waited out the rain exploring the food stalls of the Chatuchak Market, having a 30-minute shoulder massage and buying bargain socks for the wife before taking the ride to the Phloen Chit BTS Station where I walked 220 meters through a soft evening rain to the Talat Na Soi 1 food village to sample its seafood stalls.
I was led to a table and struggled a bit on the menu being half full of Moo Grob and almost wet before deciding on Thai noodle soup with fish balls which turned out to be a comforting bowl of al dente rice noodles, delicate fish balls, and flavor-packed soup that is sublime and will be difficult to forget
That was my Saturday afternoon after revising a Theory of Change for hopefully the final time.
My Sunday started with a brisk 1.8 kilometer walk to the fabled Rung Reung Prok Noodle Shop which is a short 300 meters from the Phrom Phong BTS Station into Soi 26 where two adjacent competing shops were carved by a sibling feud from what was once a single family owned business.
The must-have is the tom yum pork noodles and that I did, starting with a bowl of rice noodles with ground and sliced pork, slivers of heart and liver, fish balls. and a flavorful broth hinting of pepper, and finishing with the same but without the soup in Shop #2 for a really unforgettable gastronomic experience, noting that what defined both are their al dente and chewy noodles.
That certainly got me going in preparing for my next workshop on influencing the ASEAN after which I looked forward to my final food train ride to the remnants of Soi 38's food strip which is a 500 meter walk from the Thong Lo BTS Station.
But there is lunch to reckon with first and that I had at Korea Town as recommended by Google which is a 500-meter walk from my hotel and 230 meters from the Asoke BTS Station, at Myeong Dong where I splurged on samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) for 290 baht and had my first ever Korean beer for another 190 baht after which Oskar skyped an invitation to dinner in what he said is an amazing pizza join in the Asoke area.
So there goes Soi 38 which will have to wait until next week since the themed restaurants of Terminal 21 on the other side of the Asoke BTS Station are worth exploring too, and the bread at Pizza Plaza Romana was indeed great, with the two merthiolate-tinted cocktails that went with it getting me going on private sector engagement.
My weekend in Sukhumvit is a transition from 5 intense days of integrating our work in GRAISEA 2 to two days of what can be an equally intense discussion on a common approach in engaging the ASEAN, with the former ushering me back to the familiar haunts of Charlie Brown, Ter Sab Woey Shop (the "dirty" place) and Chiangkong (the "clean" place) which have been and currently are our only dinner options within the Chatrium Sathon area.
And it was certainly a pleasure to meet the faces behind the skype voices and emails of GRAISEA 2, and to finally have a chance to rev up my upper body muscles in the well-equipped hotel gym that my therapist said will help keep myofascial pain syndrome at bay.
But more than the "naughty" entertainment and the swanky malls, Sukhumvit also hosts a number of iconic homegrown restaurants that are popular with the local population and largely undiscovered by tourists.
And perhaps an introduction to Sukhumvit's food culture is the spread that Bon and Dinah ordered for us at the Apoteka Cocktail Bar in Sukhumvit's Soi 11, western but cooked in Sukhumvit, as I and Cathy celebrated the conclusion of the GRAISEA 2 Inception Workshop with Lao Beer.
I opted to move to Sukhumvit for the weekend rather than fly home to Manila on Saturday then back to Bangkok on Monday, and checked in at the Red Planet Hotel right across the Asoke BTS Station.
My purpose is to discover the "must-try authentic local food in Bangkok you'll never find out if you don't have Thai friends", alone and without my Thai friends, through the "Elevated Train in Commemoration of HM the King's 6th Cycle Birthday First Line" otherwise known as the Sukhumvit (Green) Line.
First stop was the Ari BTS Station which is 290 meters away from Thani Khao Mudaeng for what is allegedly the best Moo Grob (crispy pork belly) in Bangkok which did not disappoint although I have to order another plate of the crispy but tender meat since the first one was overwhelmed by the sweet sauce and the slice of Chinese sausage that came with it and at 120 baht, it was almost spectacular.
An Ondoy-like downpour threathened to abort my food trip so I bought a ticket to the Mo Chit BTS Station where I waited out the rain exploring the food stalls of the Chatuchak Market, having a 30-minute shoulder massage and buying bargain socks for the wife before taking the ride to the Phloen Chit BTS Station where I walked 220 meters through a soft evening rain to the Talat Na Soi 1 food village to sample its seafood stalls.
I was led to a table and struggled a bit on the menu being half full of Moo Grob and almost wet before deciding on Thai noodle soup with fish balls which turned out to be a comforting bowl of al dente rice noodles, delicate fish balls, and flavor-packed soup that is sublime and will be difficult to forget
That was my Saturday afternoon after revising a Theory of Change for hopefully the final time.
My Sunday started with a brisk 1.8 kilometer walk to the fabled Rung Reung Prok Noodle Shop which is a short 300 meters from the Phrom Phong BTS Station into Soi 26 where two adjacent competing shops were carved by a sibling feud from what was once a single family owned business.
The must-have is the tom yum pork noodles and that I did, starting with a bowl of rice noodles with ground and sliced pork, slivers of heart and liver, fish balls. and a flavorful broth hinting of pepper, and finishing with the same but without the soup in Shop #2 for a really unforgettable gastronomic experience, noting that what defined both are their al dente and chewy noodles.
That certainly got me going in preparing for my next workshop on influencing the ASEAN after which I looked forward to my final food train ride to the remnants of Soi 38's food strip which is a 500 meter walk from the Thong Lo BTS Station.
But there is lunch to reckon with first and that I had at Korea Town as recommended by Google which is a 500-meter walk from my hotel and 230 meters from the Asoke BTS Station, at Myeong Dong where I splurged on samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) for 290 baht and had my first ever Korean beer for another 190 baht after which Oskar skyped an invitation to dinner in what he said is an amazing pizza join in the Asoke area.
So there goes Soi 38 which will have to wait until next week since the themed restaurants of Terminal 21 on the other side of the Asoke BTS Station are worth exploring too, and the bread at Pizza Plaza Romana was indeed great, with the two merthiolate-tinted cocktails that went with it getting me going on private sector engagement.
My weekend in Sukhumvit is a transition from 5 intense days of integrating our work in GRAISEA 2 to two days of what can be an equally intense discussion on a common approach in engaging the ASEAN, with the former ushering me back to the familiar haunts of Charlie Brown, Ter Sab Woey Shop (the "dirty" place) and Chiangkong (the "clean" place) which have been and currently are our only dinner options within the Chatrium Sathon area.
And it was certainly a pleasure to meet the faces behind the skype voices and emails of GRAISEA 2, and to finally have a chance to rev up my upper body muscles in the well-equipped hotel gym that my therapist said will help keep myofascial pain syndrome at bay.
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